Tennis News

The partnership of SAP and the WTA took home the award for Best Partnership, Single Sport, on Friday’s 2016 Sports Technology Awards.

The Sports Technology Awards celebrate breakthrough technologies in sports. The partnership between SAP and the WTA triumphed over other successful entities including WSC Sports/NBA and Toshiba/Rugby World Cup 2015.

In 2013, SAP and the WTA began working together to create solutions in order to elevate the sport for players, coaches and fans. Last year at the Bank of the West Classic, SAP and the WTA unveiled SAP Tennis Analytics for Coaches, which gives coaches access to real-time performance data during live match play.

SAP and the WTA were also shortlisted for Best Use of Technology by a Sponsor. To see all winners and nominees from the 2016 Sports Technology Awards, click here.

To read more about SAP and the WTA partnership, click here.

LUCERNE, Switzerland – Barbora Strycova will begin the Czech Republic’s bid to reach a third consecutive Fed Cup final when she takes on Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky on Saturday afternoon.

With the lynchpin of his all-conquering side, Petra Kvitova, absent, Petr Pala will look to Strycova and Karolina Pliskova to pave the way to yet another victory. Both players have been part of the Czech set-up for several years now and even teamed up for the decisive doubles victory in last year’s final against Russia.

Although Strycova has tasted defeat in her last three singles rubbers, she will take comfort in her fine record against her opening day foe; in three career meetings against Bacsinszky, Strycova has never conceded a set, winning the most recent of these, at last year’s US Open, for the loss of just five games.

“I don’t know if it’s a huge confidence [boost] but it is a little bit because last year I played her,” Strycova said. “The other two matches were many years ago so I don’t count that. It’s going to be a different match tomorrow because the whole crowd are going to push her to play her best tennis. I have to be ready for that.”

Pliskova, meanwhile, takes a near-perfect Fed Cup record into her singles meeting with World No.129 Viktorija Golubic. In eight Fed Cup matches, Pliskova’s sole defeat came at the hands of Maria Sharapova, and in February’s first-round tussle with Romania she dealt with the contrasting challenges of Simona Halep and Monica Niculescu before claiming the crucial third point alongside Strycova in doubles.

Eight hundred kilometers away, in Trélazé, France will play host to the Netherlands in the weekend’s other semifinal. Despite their impressive victory over Russia in the previous round, the Netherlands will start as underdogs against a strong French side attempting to reach its first final since 2005.

French captain Amélie Mauresmo has elected to open the tie with Caroline Garcia, who will face Dutch No.1 Kiki Bertens. Garcia sits over 50 places higher in the rankings than Bertens, and the gap in the second singles rubber is even wider, pitting World No.28 Kristina Mladenovic against No.139 Richel Hogenkamp.

After their heroics in Moscow, Mauresmo is wary of looking past the Dutch: “It [the Dutch winning in Moscow] was definitely a surprise and it keeps us on our toes,” Mauresmo said.

Mauresmo’s team also includes Alizé Cornet and the in-form Pauline Parmentier, who are scheduled to play together in Sunday’s doubles. “I’m very lucky in this tie,” Mauresmo added. “In some ties I had easier choices to make. The four girls came into this week either with a lot of wins behind them, great confidence on the surface or coming out of doubles wins.”

BOGOTA, Colombia – Alexandra Panova was taken to the limit twice by a determined opponent but the Russian continued her run at the Claro Open Colsanitas, overcoming Conny Perrin 7-6(7), 7-6(7) for a spot in the quarterfinals.

Panova was the author of one the first round’s most dramatic upsets, emerging victorious in a rain-delayed three set comeback against the No.1 seed Elina Svitolina.

In the second round against Swiss qualifier Perrin, Panova was taken to two very tight sets. She built up a 5-2 lead in both sets before the Swiss came back twice to force a tiebreak in each one. Perrin held set points in both sets, but each time Panova was able to find a way shut her out.

“My opponent played really well, she has a really heavy forehand,” Panova said about 20-year-old Perrin. “I got really unlucky when I was trying to close it out with 5-2, but she was playing really well, nothing I could do. Just fight.”

Bogota’s high altitude and sharp change in climate – today being the first hot and sunny day after a week of cold and rainy weather – was almost too much for the Russian, who had to receive treatment during the second set due to dizziness.

“I felt fatigue, I felt like fainting. I couldn’t look up,” Panova said afterwards. “It was cold yesterday, today it’s hot. It’s still a high altitude and even if I’m in great shape and very fit, it’s very difficult.”

Also into the quarterfinals are Amra Sadikovic – who’s enjoying a successful return to competition in her first WTA tournament since her 2014 retirement – along with Sílvia Soler-Espinosa and Sachia Vickery.

LOS ANGELES, CA, USA – On Wednesday night, Kobe Bryant hit the court for the last time in his career. After 20 extraordinary seasons, ‘The Black Mamba’ will hang up the purple and gold for good. With a sold-out crowd, Bryant dropped a season-high of 60 points and led the Los Angeles Lakers to a 101-96 comeback win against the Utah Jazz.

It was a night to remember and current WTA players, as well as a few WTA Legends, took to Twitter to show their support and say #ThankYouKobe…

#MambaDay pic.twitter.com/RoTVyYmDC3

— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) April 10, 2016

? pic.twitter.com/ZbTiEXewcS

— Genie Bouchard (@geniebouchard) April 14, 2016

Amazing career @kobebryant 5 rings 60 point exit. #MambaDay looking forward to your continued journey

— Billie Jean King (@BillieJeanKing) April 14, 2016

YAAAAAAAAAS MAMBA!!!! #notevenalakersfan #clutchcity

— Nicole Gibbs (@Gibbsyyyy) April 14, 2016

This guy!! 60 points in his last game … ??? amazing ! #mambaout pic.twitter.com/lpTnrXi8Dj

— Kim Clijsters (@Clijsterskim) April 14, 2016

Legendary Mamba.. #EndofanEra

— Sloane Stephens (@SloaneStephens) April 14, 2016

Great speech @kobebryant emotional funny grateful full of love!!

— Pam Shriver (@PHShriver) April 14, 2016

What a career! #Legend #DreamEpic @kobebryant @Nike pic.twitter.com/xlT2UbUY3z

— Sabine Lisicki (@sabinelisicki) April 14, 2016

BOGOTÁ, Colombia – Top seed Elina Svitolina appeared on course for a regulation comeback when her Tuesday match with Alexandra Panova bled into Wednesday due to inclement weather. But the Russian, a 2012 finalist at the Claro Open Colsanitas, had other ideas as she saved a whopping five match points – three in a row in the third set tie-break – to oust the Ukrainian youngster, 7-5, 1-6, 7-6(6).

“I’m always happy to come back,” she said after the match. “It’s been my sixth year, probably. I like it here; I have lots of support and I play a good game here.

“Every point was very important because it was very close. Same as yesterday in the first set and today the final set was very close. I had to fight for everything, be aggressive, be prepared for everything because it could change very quickly.”

Panova hadn’t played a WTA tournament since the BMW Malaysian Open, which Svitolina went on to win, but a quarterfinal appearance at an ITF Challenge in Croissy-Beaubourg set her up in good stead against Svitolina, who won eight more points overall in a match that suffered multiple rain delays before it was finally postponed.

“Of course, it’s very difficult. We had two stops. The first one was pretty early, so it was almost like starting the match from the beginning. At the second stop it was getting dark, and it was not playable.”

Another upset happened earlier in the day, as former Swiss star Amra Sadikovic continued her second career by winning her first WTA main draw match since 2013, turning the tide against 2010 champion Mariana Duque-Mariño, 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4.

Sadikovic announced her retirement in the middle of 2014, and spent 14 months as a tennis coach before deciding to return to competition last summer.

“I had to play my best to beat her,” she said after the match. “For me, it was special to get to play on the center court, just awesome. I went out on court kind of nervous in the beginning, just trying to stay in there and play point by point and I ended up winning the match.

Undaunted by the vociferous local support, Sadikovic held her nerve to convert her only break point opportunity in the final set and clinch the upset in over two hours.

“When I play back home in Switzerland, everyone cheers for me. I was expecting that and I prepared myself. I talked to my coach who said, ‘Just try to stay in the moment and play point by point.’ It all worked out.”

As first round play came to its belated conclusion, half of the draw’s quarterfinalists were also decided on Wednesday. No.4 seed Lara Arruabarrena is the highest ranked woman remaining in the draw, and a second emphatic win – this time a 6-1, 6-0 defeat of Anne Schaefer – brought her into the last eight. Rio Open quarterfinalist Paula Cristina Goncalves earned another of the day’s upsets by eliminating No.6 seed Tatjana Maria, 6-4, 6-3. Qualifier Catalina Pella backed up her win over No.2 seed and defending champion Teliana Pereira by beating Elitsa Kostova, 6-3, 6-2, while No.5 seed Irina Falconi survived a tense second set tie-break to oust French veteran Sherazad Reix, 6-3, 7-6(2).

When the WTA and SAP announced a multi-year sponsorship in 2013, most of us in tennis wondered what the technology company’s ultimate deliverable would look like. Flash forward three years and SAP’s vision on how its data solutions could elevate the women’s game has become clear: start with the on-court product.

After a full year of data collection from matches and opening up the development process to players and coaches, SAP launched its on-court coaching tablet last August. The tablet, which had to be retrofitted to work in tennis’ grueling sun and heat conditions, allows coaches to track real-time match data from the coach’s box and, if needed, use the tablet as a visual aid during on-court coaching timeouts.

“When SAP looked to partner with the WTA this was one of the main reasons why women’s sport was something that we were interested in,” said Jenni Lewis, head of tennis technology at SAP. “Because we saw we could work together in impacting the sport in a positive way with technology. Playing by the rules, but still being able to say there was a gap there we could fill. The On Court Coaching rule has been there for a long time. Now we have the ability to bring in some facts to that conversation.”

But there’s only so much information a coach and player can process during a match. Using feedback from coaches with respect to the data points they are most interested in during matches, SAP worked to curate the tablet experience to make sure they had what they needed at their fingertips.

Away from the matches, coaches and players now have access to a robust Tournament Performance Center, an online portal that provides access to even more data and information which can be configured by each user. While the coaching tablet has been heavily refined so as to not overwhelm the coaches with information while they are trying to manage the match, the TPC unlocks a wealth of information for coaches to use in analysis, scouting, and preparation. The courtside solution is only accessible via a WTA authorized tablet. The TPC can be used on a website, tablet, or mobile device.

“I think it’s a game changer,” said Nicole Pratt, who currently coaches Daria Gavrilova, “The data that’s now available to the coaches and what the coaches are giving back to the players.”

The hope is that access to information will give coaches the tools to become better coaches and result in better players and a better on-court product. As Pratt told WTA Insider last year, the hard data helps solidify the player/coach relationship and cuts through the debate as to what did or did not happen in a match so both can focus on reinforcing solutions or diagnosing the problems.

“Sometimes you see the player and the coach arguing on court,” Pratt said. “With this data you cannot have that argument on court because it’s real. It’s right in front of them.”

The result is an uptick in efficiency, driven by the needs of the coaches.

“The platform gives us the flexibility, but the people give us the ideas,” Lewis said. “So we’ve been very lucky to have that access and also the buy-in from the coaches and the players about telling us. We took some time because we wanted to make sure the adoption happened.”

The current databases are built off automated data from the umpire’s electronic scoring devices, meaning there is a guaranteed minimum threshold of data points for every match on tour, as well as Hawkeye data where available. In the future, Lewis hopes to be able to incorporate racquet technology and data generated from wearables into the full dataset. In the meantime, the next step is to provide more analytical tools for broadcast and media to be able to use the data to enhance their storytelling abilities.

#SAPCoachesView: See insights on how @Vika7 Azarenka got the upper hand against Kuznetsova in the @MiamiOpen final! pic.twitter.com/pYeqUgG5Hc

— WTA (@WTA) April 2, 2016

Speaking to reporters at the Miami Open, WTA President Micky Lawler highlighted the potential health benefits of SAP’s work as well. The more data the tour has on the physical effects of game on the players’ bodies could impact everything from the tour’s Sports Science and Medicine team to how best to reconfigure the circuit structure to protect the athletes.